Rupert Murdoch Axes The News of the World

Rupert Murdoch shut down the News of the World on Thursday, Britain's biggest selling Sunday newspaper.

After allegations increased that the journalists hacked the voicemails of thousands of people, from child murder victims to the families of Britain's war dead Murdoch has decided that Sundays edition of the News of the World will be its last leaving around 200 staff members redundant.

"News International today announces that this Sunday, 10 July 2011, will be the last issue of the News of the World", read a statement from Murdoch's son James, who chairs the British newspaper arm of News Corp.

"The good things the News of the World does ... have been sullied by behavior that was wrong. Indeed, if recent allegations are true, it was inhuman and has no place in our company. The News of the World is in the business of holding others to account. But it failed when it came to itself" said James Murdoch.

The main accusations are that journalists, or their hired investigators, took advantage of often limited security on mobile phone voicemail boxes to listen in to messages left for celebrities, politicians or people involved in major stories.

Disclosure that the practice involved victims of crime came when police said a private detective working for the News of the World in 2002 hacked into messages left on the phone of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler while police were still looking for her.

Police have also been criticized over allegations officers took money from the News of the World for information. London's Evening Standard newspaper said on Thursday that police officers took more than £100,000 in payments from senior journalists and executives at the paper.

It was unclear whether the company would produce a replacement title for the lucrative Sunday market, in which, despite difficult times for newspaper circulations, the News of the World is still selling 2.6 million copies a week.

One option might be for its daily sister paper the Sun to extend its coverage to a seventh day - an option that some commentators said was already in train. The website www.sunonsunday.co.uk was registered on Tuesday this week but the party who registered it opted to keep their identity secret.